Head of Agency for Bulgarians Abroad Charged with Bribery and Influence Peddling

The Chairman of the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad is accused of leading an organised criminal group, bribery and trading in influence, prosecutor Angel Kanev who oversees the investigation said at a briefing, Focus News Agency reports. The criminal activity began in June 2017. Four are charged with involvement in the criminal group, which was led by the agency's director and included the chief secretary of the agency, a Bulgarian and a Serbian citizen, Kanev said. As part of the scheme, people paid to obtain certificates of Bulgarian origin. "They were mostly from the Western Balkans and Bessarabian Bulgarians from Ukraine. In fact, the people who sought that type of certificate were of Bulgarian origin, but due to the chaos in the agency the issuance of those certificates would take about a year. The bribes were given precisely to speed up that process," the prosecutor explained, adding that people who did not have Bulgarian origin paid higher amounts. The documents were sold for EUR 5,000 to EUR 8,000 per person, said Deputy Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev.